The president of a Belleville, Ont., synagogue targeted in a shooting last month says he woke up Thursday morning to find antisemitic flyers had been distributed to the synagogue and the surrounding neighbourhoods.
Norman Weddum says four different flyers blaming Jewish people "for everything under the sun" were distributed overnight to the Sons of Jacob synagogue and throughout the city's east end.
Weddum says the number of flyers littered throughout the area suggests "it couldn't have been done by one person."
Police say they're aware of the flyers and are "actively investigating."
Weddum says it's particularly "disturbing" in the wake of the Sept. 20 attack police have described as a thwarted mass killing of Jewish worshippers at the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
Police have said the shooter, 29-year-old Sean Ward, had multiple guns, large amounts of ammunition, gasoline and the motive to carry out an extended attack when he opened fire on an officer stationed outside the synagogue.
They said Const. Jeff Smith suffered multiple gunshot wounds but "stayed engaged" with the shooter and soon after, a second officer arrived and joined the shootout.
No one inside the synagogue was hurt but Smith is expected to undergo multiple surgeries. Ward was fatally injured and died in hospital the next day.
The Canadian Armed Forces have since said that Ward was a former soldier who served for about five years before he was released from the military at the rank of corporal in 2022.
The shooting was widely condemned by politicians and prompted synagogues and Jewish institutions elsewhere to review their security measures.
Weddum said Sons of Jacob has held some services since the attack and will hold another Friday evening.
"We're trying to get people back into the building, and I think it's helping," he said in a phone interview Friday.
"They were traumatized, and it's going to be a long healing process. But we are working on it, and we are not going to be stopped by it."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2026.
